Northern California counties order residents to stay home to curb coronavirus spread

Following Contra Costa, Alameda, Solano, Yolo, Napa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, Sacramento County on Thursday took a legal step to contain the coronavirus spread, issuing a formal order for residents to stay at home.

The order will go into effect at the end of Thursday and last until April 7 unless county officials announce a shortening or lengthening of the order. A violation of the order can be treated as a misdemeanor crime.

"As of March 19, 2020, at 11:59 p.m., the Sacramento County Health Officer is directing all individuals living in the county to stay at their place of residence except for essential activities," the county said in a statement.

It added that the legal order is based on the same directives of social distancing issued this week to slow the transmission of the disease, which did not have the force of law.

Several counties in Northern California issued the "stay at home" or "shelter in place" directive early this week. Yolo County upgraded it to order Wednesday, and other counties' authorities followed the move.

The legal order limits activity, travel and business functions to only the most essential needs and is intended to protect those most vulnerable to the disease, slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, and preserve local healthcare capacity, the statement said.

The order allows people to leave their house to go for walks, exercise, and go to open businesses, including grocery stores, banks, laundromats, hardware stores, health care facilities, pharmacies, pet food stores, and a few other businesses that are essential to basic household functioning.

Residents can still go to work if their supervisors say they are needed at the workplace.

"The intent of this order is to ensure that the maximum number of people self-isolate in their places of residence to the maximum extent feasible, while enabling essential services to continue, to slow the spread of COVID-19 to the maximum extent possible," the statement said.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, as of Thursday noon, there were around 900 cases of COVID-19 in California.